Photos and stories from our great holiday in Langkawi, Malaysia, our favourite holiday.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Rain Drops keep falling on my Head.

We decided to get a rental car; first we asked around to check how much others had paid. Seemed like most were RM $100 a day but one person had got their car for RM $50 so I decided to try my bargaining skills once again. Took a taxi to the airport as there was no chance of a cheap rental at the resort, we had spoken to some of the rental agencies as we went through the Airport several days earlier, so we bowled up to one of them and I started my bargaining pitch, I quickly got them down to RM$40 a day for 4 days, and I am sure I could of gone lower but I had Erle next to me jumping up and down yelling ‘We’ll take it we’ll take it!’ so that had to be it. Still a very good deal as that is only NZ$20 a day, couldn’t do that well in New Zealand.So Erle drove away from the A/P and I tried to navigate, after a few false starts we were away and drove in the sunshine to Kuah the big town on Langkawi Island. Went first to Eagle Landing where there is a huge sculpture of a beautiful Eagle, took its photo then down came a tropical downpour of torrential rain with lightning bolts and loud claps of thunder. We had to take shelter in a KFC, as that was all there was to get inside. Waited half an hour then we made a run for it to the car, just a tiny wee little baby car but big enough for us, as we ran two different lots of people stopped and offered us a lift! Nice people these Langkawi folk but we ran on.We then drove right around the Island in rain, the worst rain we have ever seen, it was like there was a grey curtain right around the car, it was just solid rain bucketing down from the sky, flooding all the streets and bringing down a few trees, quite dangerous driving as there was no visibility on roads we didn’t know, could gone under water any time, but Erle made it safely back to our Resort, but we saw nothing much, and never did go back to Kuah town.The worry with having a rental and no credit card was what would happen if we accidentally smashed it up, we were very conscious of this and took extra care all the way the whole time.It was so good being able to go driving every day to most parts of the island, we saw all four of the waterfalls and bathed out feet in the hot springs, looked at all the best beaches, bought lots of things like banana fritters, jack fruit crisps even crab cakes from tiny stalls along the way, plus masses of bananas and rambutans a delicious fruit we have tried in may tropical countries. They have red spiky outer skin and a soft white berry inside, all soft and sweet and juicy.Most days after this it seemed be pouring with rain for short bursts with thunder and lightning, all very tropical monsoon like, at least you soon dry out as it is still very hot even when raining. But the rain didn't stop us from touring all around the island, visiting all the best beaches, all the waterfalls and through the road tunnels.Was a sad day when we had to return the cute wee car and start walking again!